What does min() function in python return when it finds 2 minimum objects

Asked Jul 18 '17 at 08:13

Active Jul 18 '17 at 08:16

Viewed 71 times

What does min() function in python return when it finds 2 minimum objects having the same attribute?

For Example - I have a class named name Node as follows-

class Node:
    def __init__(self, f):
        self.f = f

I want to find the object having the minimum 'f' in a list of objects.

My code for doing this is as follows.

def myFunction():
    Node1 = Node(1)
    Node2 = Node(2)
    Node3 = Node(1)
    list = [Node1, Node2, Node3]
    minimum = min(list, key=attrgetter("f"))

Which object will the function return, Node1 or Node3?

asked Jul 18 '17 at 08:13

Ishaan Shah

Why don't you try it your self? add another attribute like `name` (or implement `__str__`) and print the returned object. – DeepSpace Jul 18 '17 at 08:14
1

Upvoted. I don't see any harm in asking this. And "try it" is not necessarily the best approach. From what I know of Python, it's probably arbitrary, or "up to the implementation". – Bathsheba Jul 18 '17 at 08:15
It's the same as `max()`, see specifically https://stackoverflow.com/a/44153522/6260170 – Chris_Rands Jul 18 '17 at 08:16
1

@Bathsheba It's guaranteed to be the first occurrence in Python 3 but not in Python 2 – Chris_Rands Jul 18 '17 at 08:18
Thanks @Chris_Rands for your answer. I should have checked it out myself. – Ishaan Shah Jul 18 '17 at 08:52
`Node1` and `Node3` are essentially the same so what does it matter? – Peter Wood Jul 18 '17 at 10:12

What does min() function in python return when it finds 2 minimum objects

0 Answers0